New England Patriots blank the Miami Dolphins in regular season closer

Having a first round bye in the playoffs is music to the New England Patriots' ears.

Just ask safety Steve Gregory.

By Steven Sanchez

The Taunton Daily Gazette, Taunton, MA

By Steven Sanchez

Posted Dec. 31, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 31, 2012 at 8:27 PM

By Steven Sanchez

Posted Dec. 31, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 31, 2012 at 8:27 PM

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Having a first round bye in the playoffs is music to the New England Patriots' ears.

Just ask safety Steve Gregory.

“It's great,” Gregory said. “Anytime you can get a bye in the first round of the playoffs, it's a good thing. We got to get to work this week and get some things done that we need to get done. I know some guys are banged up, so it's good for us.”

The Patriots finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the AFC after blanking division rival Miami Dolphins, 28-0, before another sold-out crowd at chilly Gillette Stadium in Foxboro on Sunday.

“I thought it was a real good performance by our team today,” New England head coach Bill Belichick said. “Those guys really did a good job today. We had a good week of practice. They were obviously ready to go. We got good contributions from all three phases of the game and had a lot of guys step up and make plays.”

New England (12-4) slipped into the second slot after the Houston Texans lost to the Indianapolis Colts earlier in the day. The Denver Broncos will get homefield advantage throughout the playoffs with their win over Kansas City.

“Whatever it is, it is,” Belichick said. “When we have to play, we will play.”

Tom Brady threw a pair of touchdown passes, including one to Rob Gronkowski, who returned to the starting lineup after missing five games with a broken forearm.

Brady finished with the day 22-of-36 for 284 yards.

The Pro-Bowl quarterback was happy to have Gronkowski back in the lineup.

“Yeah, he made a couple big catches,” Brady said. “It was nice to get him back in the flow of things. We'll use the bye and hopefully come back strong in a couple of weeks.”

Gronkowski finished with two receptions for 42 yards.

“It feel good to back out there,” Gronkowski said. “I was prepared all week, thinking I was going to play. We did a great job and it was a big team victory.”

Defensively, the Patriots forced two turnovers and recorded a season-high seven sacks on the day. Rookie Justin Francis was credited with three sacks.

“We talked about all week, as a defense to come out and play well,” Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty said. “It's the last game of the season and (you want to give) yourself confidence. I thought we did a good job of that.”

New England finished with its eighth shutout in the Belichick era.

The last time the Patriots had a shutout was in 2009 against the Tennessee Titans (59-0).

“It's tough to do in the NFL,” New England nose tackle Vince Wilfork said.

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The Patriots finished with 443 yards of offense while holding Miami (7-9) to just 263 yards.

"It's obviously not the way we planned to do," Dolphins running back Reggie Bush said. "It's not how we planned on finishing the season."

Stevan Ridley also had two rushing touchdowns to give him a team-high 12 on the season.

Miami won the coin toss and elected to defer the opening kickoff.

Starting at their 20, the Patriots moved down the field on their first possession. But the drive stalled at the Dolphins 24 when Brady's pass sailed wide of Wes Welker on a fourth-down play.

New England established a new NFL record with its 417th first down of the season on a 14-yard pass from Brady to Aaron Hernandez. They finished with 444 on the season.

Ridley also became the fifth running back in Patriots history to go over 1,200 yards.

New England caught the first break of the game when Gregory intercepted a Ryan Tannehill pass and returned it 13 yards to the Miami 28.

Two plays, Brady hooked up with Welker for a nine-yard touchdown pass to give the Patriots a 7-0 lead.

The play moved Brady past Johnny Unitas into second place all-time with his 48th consecutive game with a touchdown pass. Brady was also the first quarterback in NFL history to throw a touchdown pass in all 16 games for the third straight season. For Welker, it was the 110th consecutive game with a reception.

Brandon Deaderick registered New England's second sack of the day that forced the Dolphins to punt. Brady then led a 15-play, 92-yard drive that capped off with the first of Ridley's two touchdowns as the Patriots took a 14-0 lead.

New England received bad news when sack leader Rob Ninkovich was helped off the field with 6:28 left in the second quarter after sustaining a hip injury. He left the game and did not return.

The Dolphins missed a chance to get on the board when Nate Kaeding's 41-yard field goal sailed wide left.

The Patriots converted another long drive just before halftime on a 1-yard touchdown run by Ridley and New England took a 21-0 lead into the locker room.